I did have a real good beer side by side today. 2 dark 9.6 % alcohol beers. Brooklyn black chocolate stout and närkes stormaktsporter from a very small Swedish microbrewery. I have found both to be very good by themselves. However side by side the stout seemed almost thin and light in comparing. Very surprisingly indeed! The porter is as the stout a bit on the sweet side. It have the same chocolate taste but also lots of coffee. Further it has a real nice spiciness that despite totally different porter stile in all other manners reminds me of Anchor porter. Finally a well balanced hop bitterness make this beer by no means the best Swedish beer I have ever tasted.
However there is more to it. It is 2 versions! The other one is kaggens stormaktsporter. It is the same beer but it has been matured in a bourbon barrel. Personally I prefer the first one because I think the bourbon wood kind of erase much of the nice spiciness. Kaggens is considered as a real cult here in Sweden and a 25 cl bottle cost over 300 skr in some bars.
Both are rated on this beer page: http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/table.asp?title=THE+BEST+BEERS+IN+THE+WORLD+OVERAL L&file=overall_beer_2007.csv (http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/table.asp?title=THE+BEST+BEERS+IN+THE+WORLD+OVERAL L&file=overall_beer_2007.csv)
I do have a big wish for the future. A side by side with stormaktsporter and Gonzo imperial porter. That would be something!
Leif